Letter: Help to prevent, not assist, suicide

To the editor

Published 5:50 pm, Wednesday, September 23, 2015

It's National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and we need to be preventing suicide rather than assisting it. It is immoral and unethical for a physician to assist any person with prematurely ending his or her life.

It is an ethical imperative that physicians "primum non nocere" ("above all, do no harm"). Those in the medical field should not be put in a position to terminate, rather than help to cure and heal, our lives.

There are times when no medical treatment will lead to a cure, and there are always medical treatments that offer comfort through dying. Physicians do their best to alleviate pain or suffering rather than intentionally hastening death. Hospice and palliative medicine also are always viable options.

If we open the door to physician-assisted suicide, there is sure to be the mistake of assisting someone who has much more life to live. We need to ensure our public health is protected to the extent that no one's life is prematurely ended.

For the last 15 years, I have served as a chaplain in health care. I have walked along the last days, weeks and months with so many people. I can tell you with absolute certainty that the pain of loss will not be suppressed by physician-assisted suicide; grief is a part of our humanity and cannot be pushed aside.

We need to encourage more open discussion of death and dying in our families and communities of faith. The dying process is a natural, spiritual time to know the love of family, friends and God.